WEEKLY ONE-SHOT CHALLENGE: WEEK #18

Deadline: Wednesday 7/7 Midnight PST

Theme: "When you are up to your ass in alligators, it's important to remember..."

Pay Back

While Sookie was healing from the torture inflicted upon her by those fucking fairies, I decided to dispose of an ever increasing nuisance. The tiger was growing too big for his furry britches. He had stepped on too many toes in the past, especially mine. After sneaking into my territory and fighting with Bill which led to Sookie being knocked unconscious, he must pay. I have to do this in such a way that no one must ever find out what happened to him. There must not be anything left to identify. The tiger still owes a debt to Felipe for cleaning up the last mess the crazy weretiger made. She really needs to be put down. Sookie, on the other hand, will never forgive me if she were to find out my involvement in his disappearance, let alone, death.

I must do this to keep her safe. She is Mine. The tiger apparently does not understand that phrase.

I had Bobby, my day man, call the Shreveport office of E(E)E to schedule a fake appointment with Quinn for the latest possible time. I knew that they closed at midnight and only a skeleton crew would be operating at that time. My appointment was for 11:30. I never showed. I was sitting on top of the building next door to E(E)E watching Quinn and his assistant speak about this "Asshole who is keeping me waiting…". Sometimes it's great to have vampire hearing. I am so not an asshole.

At 11:45, the assistant asked permission to leave. The tiger said he would wait until midnight for this appointment to show since business was a little too slow at the moment due to the poor condition of the economy. The red-headed assistant said "Goodnight", grabbed his lunchbox and coat, and left. That's one less thing I have to worry about.

I could tell the tiger was angry: the way his shiny bald head shook from side to side while he kept muttering, "Asshole" under his breath and looking at the clock.

At precisely midnight, I could hear my prey say to himself, "Hopefully, Mr. Alexander will call tomorrow and we can book his daughter's coming of age party. We really need the business." Then he put on his jacket and turned out the light.

I quietly jumped from my perch and ran to the side of his truck farthest from the door. As he was locking the door, I made my move. With my vampire speed, I was behind him and said in a low whisper, "Here, Pussy-Pussy." He spun around with a look of shock on his face only to be knocked out cold.

Taking the keys from the tiger's paw, I unlocked his door, turned on the truck, and left it running. I didn't want to have to dispose of it in addition to him. At least since I am wearing gloves, I will not be leaving any fingerprints or scent therefore not being tied to the scene. I know no one saw me fly in tonight and I took care of all surveillance equipment the previous evening.

I removed the small spool of 18-gauge wire from my pocket and went to work of hog tying my victim. Once I had him sufficiently tied, I then gagged him with his scarf. It was easiest to tie the wires holding his feet and hands together with a single rope which I carried. Once we were in the cool night air, I began to feel him thrashing beneath me. I gradually dropped to about ten feet above the ground and dropped my burden. Even though he only fell five or six feet, his body made a very loud thud striking the dirt road, while he let out a loud grunt when he made contact. That's when he realized I was towering over him.

He began pleading with his eyes and thrashing again. I smiled down at him and said, "Be a good kitty and I will make this as painless as possible. Struggle and you we will see exactly how many ways there are to skin a cat." He instantly settled down.

I picked up the rope tethered to his limbs and continued onward to our destination. We were just a few miles out when I landed us again, accidentally misjudging the distance to the ground. Unfortunately, my quarry hit the ground a little harder than I intended. Oh well. He was none too happy when I began removing his shoes and clothes. He just stared at me. Even though I did not need to, I explained to him that his "claw has been in my side one too many times."

Removing the gag, I asked him if he had any last words. At first, he just stared at me with his pansy purple eyes. They were starting to get a tinge of yellow to them. He wanted to change, but being hogtied, he knew he would suffer severe pain with the wire cutting into his limbs. When his eyes were back to human, He said, "Northman, Sookie will never forgive you for this. Felipe de Castro will make you pay for what you are about to do."

"Sookie and de Castro will never know. Tiger, do you know what I am about to do?"

In his deep rumbly voice, Quinn said, "I am sure whatever it is, I will find it unpleasant."

"You might enjoy it. Almost like one more chance to be in the pits."

"Northman, I can guarantee you that I will not attempt to contact Sookie anymore even though she does not belong to you and never will."

"I know that you will not contact her ever again." I placed my hand on his elbow and began to apply pressure. "Oh, yes, she is mine," I stated as I squeezed just enough to break the joint and make him scream. When he opened his mouth, I reapplied the gag.

As I put his personal effects in a small cloth bag, I said, "Yes, you will never lay eyes on my bonded again, filthy beast." I threw the bag over my shoulder and took to the air again.

Right on the outskirts of our destination, which is a special park located southeast of Shreveport, I descended low enough to drag the cat through the briars. I did not want to have the scent of him on me so that no one could connect me with his disappearance. I took him back and forth through the briars until I smelled the heavy rich scent of his blood flowing freely all over his body.

He was ready. As I took him once more through the briars for good measure lowering him in the middle of the briar patch and quickly raising him to ensure cuts on all surfaces, I told him, "You will never call her Babe again." Between his broken elbow and bloody body, he was struggling quite a bit. I am glad the gag was holding, even though no one was around for miles.

After dragging him in the briars for the last time, we flew higher to clear the fence for the Bayou Alligator Farm. I knew he could tell where we were by the way he was struggling. I am very lucky that one of my underlings has owned this park for the last fifty years. I called him up last week after the tiger hurt my Lover for the last time. I asked for him not to feed the residents for the entire week. I also wired him a nice gift of $30,000 so that he could give his employees the day off for the next two days. I knew that two days would be more than enough time for the critters to take care of business. I knew where the biggest and oldest alligators were kept. They were the main attraction in the biggest pen in the center of the park. As I hovered above the right spot, I shined a flashlight on the shore of the pond. Pairs of eyes reflected eerily back at us. I said, "Kitty want to play with his new friends?"

He just squirmed, grunted, and tried to screamA?N.

When I lowered him so that he was in about a six inches of water and began removing the length of rope, I said in my most sincere tone, "Babe…"

The hungry animals knew it was feeding time when the tiger's blood dropped into the water and he began thrashing about. They began their stalking their naked and bleeding quarry who managed to get to his feet and begin to hop away. His arms were still bound behind his back. As he hopped, he stepped on the excessive length of scarf hanging from his mouth and tripped landing in two foot of water. The aggressors kept coming.

I continued, "Babe, when you are up to your ass in alligators, it's important to remember..."

His screams began and I knew it was pointless to finish.

A/N: This is my second story, so go somewhat easy on me. I hope you liked it! :)